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1907.] The Society's Land Titles. 365 



V 



THE SOCIETY'S LAND TITLES. 

BY CHAKLES A/ CHASE. 



By the will of our late President, the Hon. Stephen 
Salisbury, this Society has come into possession of the Man- 
sion-house at Lincoln Square, diagonally opposite the 
Society's hall. One hundred years ago this square was 
the centre and life of the town. Here, or in the neighborhood 
lived, or had lived Isaiah Thomas, Stephen Salisbury the 
first, the first Levi Lincoln, the second John Chandler, 
Timothy Paine, Daniel Waldo, the Lynde, Bangs and 
Wheeler families. Here were the warehouses of Mr. Waldo 
and Mr. Salisbury, with their large interior jobbing trade. 
The tavern still stands close by, at which Washington was 
a guest in 1789, and in which Lafayette breakfasted in 1829. 

The first saw- and grist-mill in Worcester stood a few 
feet north of the square, on land granted by the Proprietors 
of Worcester to Capt. John Wing of Boston, May 22, 1685, 
this tract containing "ten rod of land round where his 
mills standeth, together with the privilege of the mill 
b[r]ooke to him only and his heires whilst hee or they keep 
the mills in repair for the towns use." Captain Wing 
was on the same day admitted as "an inhabitant in the 
village of Worcester," and at about the same time was 
appointed to fill a vacancy on the committee named by the 
General Court for the settlement of the town. Captain 
Wing, by his will filed in the Suffolk Registry Feb. 14, 
1703, left this mill lot with other large holdings to his son 
Cord, subject to a life interest for his wife. On May 21, 
1717, Cord Wing conveyed it to Thomas Palmer, John 
Oulton and Cornelius Waldo.^ On Jan. 31, 1727, these 

^Book 18, page 403, in Middlesex Registry. The County of Worcester was not 
created until 1731. 



A4-T3 



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366 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

grantees made a division of their lands, this mill-site going 
to Mr. Waldo.2 April 22, 1771,^ Joseph Waldo, son of 
Cornelius, sold to John Hancock of Boston, and on Nov. 
5, 1771, John Hancock sold to Stephen Salisbury the first 
of the name in Worcester.^ While the exact date of building 
the mansion cannot now be fixed, it was probably built 
by Mr. Salisbury in 1772, occupied by him until his death 
in 1829 and by his widow until her death in 1843. After 
her death it was used as a boarding school and by private 
families, and for some ten years past by the Hancock 
Club, which bears a name which this writer had the privi- 
lege of suggesting. 

The second Stephen Salisbury, on his marriage in 1833, 
began house-keeping in the block which he had built oppo- 
site the Court House, and, about the year 1836, built the 
mansion on the grounds just north of Antiquarian Hall, 
where this Society was for so many years entertained at 
the close of its annual meetings by him and his son, both 
of whom were our most generous benefactors. 

OUR PRESENT HOME. 

In tracing the title to our present location (page 385, 
Vol. XIV., Proceedings for October, 1901,) I did, not find 
how it came into possession of William Jennison. The 
recent researches by The Worcester Society of Antiquity 
show that it was a part of forty acres granted by the pro- 
prietors "for the Minister at Worcester." [Rev.] Andrew 
Gardner conveyed this to Benjamin To wnsend, May 10, 1723. 
(B. 23, P. 376, Mid. Reg.) 

Benjamin To wnsend to William Jennison, Nov. 23, 1725, 
B. 26, P. 489, Mid. Reg. 



*Book 27, pages 14, 19, 26, 32, 66, Mid. 
* Book 66, page 143, Wor. 
*Book 66, page 193, Wor. 



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